Newark school's opening is delayed after community objects to lack of playground, safety railings

Tim Farrell/The Star-LedgerView of the new Speedway Avenue School in Newark in this January 2010 file photo. The new Speedway Avenue School has computer labs, a music room, a library, a state of the art auditorium. What it doesn't have is a playground for the elementary school kids and no clear way of crossing the kids safely to the building.
NEWARK -- Teachers and students were planning to move into the new Speedway Avenue School in Newark Tuesday. They had looked forward to the occasion for many months. Most of their supplies were in boxes that had been taken to the new building. Their kindergarten through fifth grade students were giddy.

They had been told how nice the school was on the inside, filled with all the state of the art goodies. They passed it everyday, watched it rise from the ground. And just when you thought they would get the prize at the bottom of the Cracker Jack box, the debut of the school came to a screeching halt like nails across a blackboard. The opening of the K- thru fifth-grade structure is now postponed until fall.

Parents have decided they don’t want the school to open until the issue of the missing playground is settled as well as the need for a barrier to protect children from speeding cars on nearby South Orange Avenue.

Parents held a community meeting the other night at which they told the district to get its act together. They would have told the state’s School Development Authority the same thing if some one from that office had bothered to come to the community meeting. SDA, which built the school, sent a letter trying to explain what happened with the project. Parents were not amused

"They should have been at the table,’’ said Theresa Ellis, a grandparent. "Things in Newark don’t happen over night.’’

State and local officials had trouble finding room for the new school in South Orange so they scrunched it between a housing development and a busy street with no room left for the playground there.

As for protecting the kids from traffic, there has been talk of installing a railing or fence in front of the school, but parents are frustrated because this safety measure was raised last year. To get it done, they were told that SDA has to let Essex County officials know what it wants to do since South Orange Avenue is a county road.

"We’ll get a meeting of everybody together and we’ll try to bring this to a head,’’ said Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. "We need to try to make it safe for the kids to cross the street.’’

As for a playground, that’s not going to be easy. The ball got dropped and somebody never picked it up. In the original plans, Steven Morlino, executive director of facilities managemaent for Newark schools, said a simple land swap deal was supposed to make it happen.

A section of Newark Housing Authority townhouses located by the school would be razed to make way for the kids and the replacement townhouses would be built where the old Speedway Avenue School is now.

Here’s where things fade to black. The School Construction Corp. was on the scene back then, but when that government body dissolved, so did the idea of the playground.

And there-in lies the problem. There was never any follow through or formal agreement with the housing authority to get it done.

For reasons no one seems to know -- poof -- the playground disappeared when the SDA took over from the SCC.

"I think the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing,’’ said Ann Baker, president of the Parents Teachers Organization. "Whenever the new team came in, nothing continued. It was like things was just dropped and nobody was held accountable.’’

SDA stepped in and proposed a pedestrian bridge to connect from the school to Vailsburg Park across the street. The state Department of Education was fine with that but community stakeholders -- teachers, parents, residents -- poo-pooed that thought.

The park, they say, is not contained and too wide open. Anything can happen. Plus, the playground area in the park is too far away, and by the time the children get across the street, recess is over. SDA then suggested the teachers parking lot become the playground. The district : No can do.

Rich Vespucci, a DOE spokesman, said playgrounds are not required by education law or regulation, but the facilities staff at DOE often encourages school officials to provide playground space when there is none. The feeling is that learning and recess go hand in hand.

Everybody is back to the table trying to figure out what to do. SDA officials recently met with the NHA and the housing authority’s position is still the same. There’s a cost to raze townhouses.

There’s no firm date to open the school. Standardized testing is coming up. Another assessment after Spring break is scheduled, too. Moving in May and June is ridiculous. So, we’re looking at September.

Parents are upset with the whole process. They need some assurances at this point, something that says things will be done right.